Theater group directs, produces play

Tom (right, performed by Sean LaRocca) and his mother Amanda (right, performed by Heidi Bridges) sit at the same table although worlds apart in The Glass Menagerie playing at Palomar College. Lucas Spenser/Telescope.

On Jan. 31, the Palomar College Theatre Ensemble, an entirely student run theatre group, will take the stage to present their debut performance, ‘The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams.

Student Director and Theatre Major Jared Spears and his crew of student actors and technical stage members have worked since August 2013 to bring this play to life.

Alongside preparation for the performance, the Palomar Theatre Ensemble has been building up community support and fundraising as a new club at Palomar.

The ensemble raised funds by selling concessions for performances at the Howard Brubeck Theatre as well as receiving a sizable donation from Plain View Theatre to support their performance. Spears and the Palomar Theatre Ensemble hope to use their production of “The Glass Menagerie” to springboard future student developed plays.

“Hopefully this leads to more productions; bigger productions. Hopefully somewhere down the line even the student theatre ensemble could do a musical,” Spears said.

Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” was the first play the famous playwright produced and took to Broadway, and now the Palomar Theatre Ensemble seeks to replicate Williams’ success in their debut performance.

Taking the stage on opening night are Theater Majors Sean LaRocca, 25, and Abby Fields, 21, as well as actors Heidi Bridges, 49, and Ryan Balfour, 31. Twenty one other students will be managing lighting, sound design and music, stage design and other technical positions.

“If you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity to do what you want, you should do it.” Technical Theater Major and Stage Manager Jazrene Abildgaard said.

Fields, who will play the character Laura, summarized perfectly how the audience should approach the play. “Come in as a sensitive human,” she said. “It’s about four people in real life, so find yourself in the play.”

The actors will take the stage at 8 p.m. on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, and 2 p.m. on Feb. 2 in the Studio Theater.

For a formal review of the Palomar Theatre Ensemble’s “The Glass Menagerie” go to www.the-telescope.com.